


Of Hauntings and Hamiltons (under edit)

by Darkdancer1234



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Character with depression, Depression, F/F, Feeling Unwanted, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, The mental illnesses depicted are the authors own person experiences, and peggy, characters with anxiety, ghost - Freeform, hauntings and shit, hurt charecter, my mental illness, poor body image, sensory over load, talking to fill the silence, these depictions might not fit everybody’s experiences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-03-16 16:28:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13640028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkdancer1234/pseuds/Darkdancer1234
Summary: Hamilton is an inexperienced ghost hunter working with his crush Aaron, the two of them become a little more experienced after they encounter professional ghost hunters George and Martha Washington and their young team consisting of a lovely french person, their boyfriend and the ridiculously attractive John Lauren who throws a wrench in Aaron and Alex's careful relationship. they don't even know how to define their own relationship but enter player three.sorry i'm not that great at summaries, just know there are ghosts and three boys in love





	1. Alexander

**Author's Note:**

> yo i told you guys i was coming out with a new story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to @raise-a-glass-to-choices on tumblr for editing this

   Alexander has been fascinated by the existence of the supernatural for as long as he could remember. His fascination only grew as he aged and learned more about the spirits of the other side, not just the monsters lurking under the bed and in the shadowed closet of a young child with a big imagination, not that he had a lot of space for beasts like these to lurk in this bitty house. This childish fascination with spirits of lore was not helped by his mother who was extremely superstitious herself and would salt her windows hearing so much as a whisper of demonic involvement in their tiny town. This superstitious behaviour would make his father laugh and jeer with his gambling buddies in the public areas of their home, but it was something he would indulge his wife in when they were safely in private. His mother was probably where his fascination began to take root. His mother believed so strongly in myths and local legends that it was almost impossible for Alexander to take disinterest in them. His mother neither encouraged or discouraged his childish curiosities but his father was not nearly as kind to his youngest when it came to his readings or ghostly research. He would yell at his wife for putting old wives tales in their son’s head and sneer at his boy, demanding that he man up and start thinking of a trade he could eventually excel at in the coming years. Of course Alex never really listened to his father during these drunken bouts of anger and in the years following the older man’s departure, he found himself feeling glad. If taking a trade made you a bitter alcoholic who beat your wife and made you gamble away any and all savings, he didn’t even want to think about taking a trade.

   The other thing that followed their father’s abrupt departure was that James Jr took on the role of the family breadwinner and skeptic. He made sure to ridicule his younger brother whenever the opportunity presented itself, for example when he was caught reading research material on a paranormal subject. And while James had taken their father’s place as the man of the house, he was very much still a young boy. In the manner of an older brother, he would snatch the book from Alexander’s hand and dangle it teasingly above his younger brother’s reach, taunting him until he cried. Their mother, ever Alexander’s protector, would come home in the nick of time and snatch the book from her eldest, swatting him with it. Then she would gather Alex into her arms until his frustrated sniffling ceased and would read him short passages from whatever novel it was. On one very memorable occasion, some time before they lost their mother, James came home in a particularly foul mood and instead of greeting Alexander in his usual taunting, brotherly fashion, he greeted him in a way that was purposely ugly and mean-spirited. He snatched the book from his brother like he had done so on so many instances but this time instead of holding it out of reach and mockingly reading out the title in a girlish falsetto tone, he looked with hatred at a ghost guide to research and began to destroy the book, tearing the pages from their binding and crumpling them up into balls. Naturally, Alexander began screaming bloody murder and charged at his brother in an effort to salvage the novel. James took the opportunity to grab him by his long hair and smashed him into the wall before throwing him to the ground. He then straddled Alexander and began battering him round the face with his left hand, holding him down by his neck with his right. Just as Alex began to genuinely fear for his life, his mother came home and upon seeing her oldest savagely beating her smaller son, she grabbed him under the arms and threw him away from Alexander with strength summoned from her motherhood and years old labour. She hauled Alexander up to his feet and the two of them spent the rest of the night locked in the bathroom, scared out of their minds and unable to sleep.

   For a week after the incident, Rachel was sure to bring her youngest to work with her and avoid running into her eldest son during the evening. James had been acting increasingly peculiar following the vicious attack on his little brother. Every evening he would come home from work and walk into the kitchen, moving in a way that was purposely heavy, a way that did not fit a sixteen year old boy. He would cross over to Rachel’s room, the only room beside the bathroom that locked and the room that hid the other two residents’ safely behind its door, and he would kick the door for a long time. His attempts would progressively get more violent but they didn’t seem to be attempting to break the wood. Then they would suddenly stop and then the scraping would start up. For the first two days they had no idea what the scraping could be but then they saw the metal glinting from the crack in the door and young Alexander’s blood turned to ice. James would coo for his brother to come and play with him and Rachel would tighten her hold as though she genuinely feared that he might go to his brother but Alex would just start crying.

On the fifth day of this strange behaviour, Rachel locked Alexander behind the sturdy bathroom door instead of her own bedroom door after James had left for work. The bathroom only had one window and it was far too small and high for James to crawl through without leverage, the most he could do was look through the window without actually being able to reach Alex. This was the first time in days that Alex had been left alone and he was rightly frightened. If James came home and found that their mother was not their guarding her baby then he might actually succeed in his quest to cause harm. Rachel couldn't have been gone for more than an hour when he heard the tip-tap-tipping sound on the tiny little window. Alexander’s gut dropped, that sound meant that somebody tall enough to reach the window was tapping their finger against it. The only people who knew about that back facing window were his mother and James and out of the two of them, James was the only one tall enough to tap on it like that. At only sixteen James towered over his mother at almost six feet tall. He was still growing and would probably continue to grow till he towered over their mother in the same way their father had. ‘Tip-tap-tip’, the sound made Alex start crying. He was sure he knew who it was and that as soon as he looked up, acknowledging his brother that he would be killed. He held out for another ten minutes before he finally broke and turned to look out the little window, his brother was staring back at him with a terrifying and sinister grin as he expected. He waved at him like he had so many times before; the only difference between now and then was that right now he was holding a fairly large knife. He waved with the knife clenched in his fist and smeared blood on the window before he disappeared.

   Alexander began crying earnestly, he was going to be killed. His mother would come home to find him however James left him in and he had a growing feeling it wouldn’t be pretty. The front door slammed open and he heard the heavy steps that identified his brother as the intruder, his menacing footsteps pounding louder and louder as he drew near. "Alexander”, he cooed, “Come out and play." Alex watched petrified as the handle began to jiggle and then stopped. His brother cackled in a way that was truly terrifying from behind the thin barrier and the lock started to jiggle again as his brother began picking the lock. Alex’s gut clenched as he done something he hadn't done for a while because he was twelve now and that was too big to act so small. He screamed for his mother, he just screamed and screamed. He willed his mom to show up and save him and just as the locked clicked, leading the door to swing open, his screams were answered. The front door banged open and his brother was tackled to the side by a brown and pink blur. The knife was sent flying and his mother and brother slid across the floor. Thomas Stevens, his mother’s dearest friend, ran into the little bathroom and helped Alex out of the tub, checking him over for injuries. A third man ran over to his mother with a length of long rope and perched himself on James back to hold him down while Rachel tied him with the brown cord. He was tied so tightly he could only squirm and buck, his eyes rolling back in his head to show only the whites of his eyeballs. He started screaming, his body contorting. This was what his mother had seen when she came home the other day: a beast.

   Thomas helped him sit down against the wall and place his head between his knees, going to help his mother hoist James into one of the fragile, wooden kitchen chairs and attach his arms and ankles to it to truly immobilize the teen. The man who had thickly corded muscles then pulled a flask from his pocket and sprinkled the liquid inside onto James’ forehead. James screamed in pain and tried to throw himself at the man but was held in place by the rope. He then pulled a small, leather-bound book from his coat and flicked it open to a page bookmarked with a small length of blue ribbon, beginning to read from it in a language that Alexander was unfamiliar with. James hardly reacted beyond hissing curses that would make a whore blush at this odd fellow so Thomas joined in with the stranger, starting to chant in time with the other man. At this point, James, or the thing pretending to be James, turned to Rachel looking very childish and whimpered. "Mommy help me”, he whined, “they’re hurting me”. He even started crying for good measure.

   Rachel simply looked at the creature coldly. "Let go of my son” She snarled before she also began to join in on the chanting. The trio’s voices rose and mingled and James began screaming in two voices. His body jerked and bucked, his head lashing from side to side as a thick sludge dripped down his face, stemming from his eyes and nose. The house shook; the windows breaking and the books flying from the shelf before all the activity just stopped. James slumped down in his chair and Rachel ran forward first, checking his pulse then checking his breathing and then undoing the knots with a relieved sigh. With motherly gentleness, she pulled him from the chair and laid him on his stomach, his head turned in case he threw up. She looked at the man with kind eyes and grinned. "Thank you for coming”. He smiled at her and tipped his head, shaking Thomas Stevens’ hand and turning to leave. He stopped to ruffle Alexander’s hair and then he was gone.

   Alex wouldn’t even think of the man again for nearly two years after he lost his mother while sick in bed with her. The man came to mind again only months after Peter hung himself from the rafters of their home and James was desperately searching for a placement for him. James might have been a man at that point but he could hardly feed himself, much less a little boy that had been left traumatized by not one but two deaths in the family. Not to mention that Alexander would need clothing, school supplies and probably medical care due to him being a sickly little thing. It was way too much pressure for him. That night, Alexander drifted into a restless sleep hearing his brother arguing with someone on the phone. He woke in the night, bleary-eyed and exhausted, to a man standing over his bed. At first he thought it was James standing vigil in the night but as his eyes adjusted and travelled up the man’s torso to his face, it became clear to him that the man was not James. Peter stood over him looking so sad and so angry, the spectre held his gaze as he backed across the room and into the shadows. He lay in bed paralyzed with fear, after what happened with James and the man in the hat just previous to this, he put aside his fascination with spirits and instead decided to focus on his studies and his academic pursuit but now his interest had been piqued once again. James hurried him from the house the next morning, looking quite pale and glancing around him as if they were being watched. It would be a long time before it even occurred to Alex that James had also seen the spectral version of their cousin that night.

   In the months following the second death in the family, he was passed on to the Stevens family where his brother abandoned him and fled the tiny island without him, claiming he was leaving to find their father. At fourteen he was still naïve enough to believe that his last living family would be back for him. He was fifteen when he finally realized that he had actually been abandoned. Of course the Stevens’ were a very kind family and he had grown up with Ned, not to mention they were old friends of his mother so that decided that they would keep him. Sure he was raggedy and scrawny with very little physical skill but he was still a boy with no family and nobody else in the world who would take him in. It wasn’t for free however and he was put to work just like Ned was. On top of this, he was expected to keep an education and he and Ned attended the same school, graduating at seventeen and eighteen respectively. Only Ned left the island that year, however, leaving with ambition and dreams of being a doctor. Alex stayed behind to clerk and work and wait for the day he finally repaid his debt, not that he would actually get the chance, due to the hurricane that would hit their island that year. The horrible hurricane destroyed everything in its path, including the Stevens’ business and their residence which was situated on the second floor.

   It was then that Alex knew what he had to do: get out. So he did what he did best and got to writing. He wrote and wrote and wrote and he didn’t stop until he’d documented everything as far as the eye could see. He wrote about the homes that had been destroyed and the people they’d lost in the hurricane and about how anybody who could leave the island was fleeing from it in droves. This included the remaining Stevens family who used the little money they had salvaged to leave. Sadly, no matter how hard they tried they hadn’t been able to include little Alex in the flight from their home. It didn’t matter in the end, however, because the paper that Alex wrote practically went viral and reached not only the people of his little island who would use it to pay his way off the island but the hands of a wealthy man in the United States who would sponsor him and provide him with a scholarship.


	2. Aaron

     Aaron burr was not at all fascinated by the supernatural, not only due to his upbringing a good Christian boy and good Christian boys did not confer with the dark spirits. The other reason was because he was a little boy and little boys and like any little boy he coward under the blankets when branches would scrape his window and lighting would crack through the night. his childhood friend Jon Bellamy cemented these fears by telling him with all the glee of a little boy trying to scare his friend, that good kind Christian boys had the sweetest tastiest meat to all of the monsters of the night, so much so that if his toes so much as slipped from under his blanket that the beasts would spring from beneath the bed and drag him away to the shadows. Now that was something that stuck with him and he kept his feet tucked firmly under his blankets well into his adulthood. sally was older and thought that she was more mature and sophisticated than her brother believed his childish little fears to be ridiculous and was sure to tell him all the silly things he said throughout the day and their mother was sure to berate her gently, then she would tap his nose and tell him that it was healthy to question the dark and have a healthy fear. People were monsters just as much as monsters are monsters and she would tell him this in the smart voice of hers. He wouldn't understand this for almost three years.

   he was eight before he realized what his mother meant by men being monsters when instead of being greeted by his giggling drunk parents after a great date night he was greeted by a sober looking police officer who took him and sally back to the station and gave them hot chocolate and wrapped them both up in a blanket. Aaron was still too young to quite understand what this meant but sally was older had lost her bright smile and the rosy glow to her cheeks. An older police officer with kind eyes and greying windswept hair kneeled at their feet and took each of their hands and tried to calmly explain why at eight years old Aaron had lost both of his parents to a mugging gone wrong.

    He was quieter after his parents passed, according to hi psychiatrist it was a result of the trauma of that night. Or so that’s what he told Aarons aunt and uncle who were taking care of him and sally and still pretending to be the doting caretakers. They started to show their true colors not long after the funeral for sally and his parents when he saw spirits for the first time. He remembers standing there in that cold misty morning the wet grass ticking his ankles through his long black socks. His suit was scratchy and all black including his shirt and his tie, sally was also in all black except for the thin knit cardigan that was meant to keep her warm. That was red like blood on snow with little silver jewels on the collar. While the pastor was condemning his parents’ bodies to the earth something caught his eye in the small rays of light peeking from the clouds. He thought to tug on his sister sweater, he did a lot of thinking these day and sally was more often than not in a very foul mood and he decided that it would be best to investigate. He wandered away from the service in what could only be described as dazed. The light twinkled and drew him into the tree line where it disappeared. The fog seemed to swirl around him and he whimpered a little as the daze started to wear off. Then standing before him still as any painting  were his mother and father looking very young and healthy and so happy. his mother shot him a beautiful blinding smile and waved at him but made no move to approach further, it was almost like they were interacting through a pane of glass and slowly he walked closer. His father who tended to be rigid and not very lenient or affection reached forward with his spectral hand and brushed Aarons cheek and despite the fact that he knew they were dead he began to weep when the touch was cold. It was barley a whisper but there was so much love in that ice cold touch, then the spirits took each other’s ands and walked off into the mist and were gone.

   He stumbled out of the woods and his grandmother looking very frightened sort of ran towards him in her little old lady waddle. "Aaron, she gasped looking petrified. Where have you been?" 

And because he really didn't feel like talking he just shrugged. He was feeling very slow and sleepy and just a little hungry and just a little shocked to see the sun shining high in the sky with no trace of that early morning fog. His grandmother blinked at him obviously floored and he did that very childish thing where children just pointed and motioned to the nearby tree line that he stalked out of. She stared at him and stared at him before sighing and pulling him by the upper arm to the car. She was angry he could tell, but as he was a small child he really didn't care. He really cared more about telling sally about what he'd seen this morning, she would be sad to have missed it but she'd be happy that his mom and dad were happy.

     The drive home was silent, his grandmother was angry with him and quite frustrated with his refusal to speak. Though he didn't see her jumping to fill the silence. The drove up to his parents’ home which was filled with well-wishers and mourners walking in and out. His grandmother stomped on the breaks and waited for him to get in the house following behind him with a pinched expression. As they approached the door she grabbed him roughly and frog marched him through the door seething, first he got lost in the middle of a funeral and now he was lollygagging about. She dragged him over to stand next to his sister in the line of mourners, and sally looked at him with concern while his uncle hit him with such a furious expression it could have been described as evil before schooling his expression back into that of the mourning sibling. He really didn't want to think about what that face meant for him later and instead chose to focus on the armful of bawling Bellamy he suddenly had. His mom had always said that Jon felt things more deeply than others but she would always giggle when she said it so he kind of though she was maybe making fun of his friend.

   He found out later that night after all the mourners had left exactly what that face of evil had meant. He was helping sally put dishes of food away when his uncle grabbed him bruising his little arm and dragged him into the living room nearly carrying him with the force of his yanking.

"Where were you?” He roared an inch from Aarons face.

He smelled like onion dip and spaghetti casserole. He stared back blankly and looked back at Sally silhouetted by the kitchen light. Her face was white and his grandmother was watching the exchange between her grandson and this grown ass man with worry. She stepped forward to intervene but his grandfather gently pulled her back.

"I was just going to talk to mama and daddy." he didn't understand why he could possibly be in trouble for that and he didn't understand why all the adults looked so upset.

He looked at sally when he said and really it was a very childish and innocent statement but his uncle clearly didn't agree. He backhanded him so aggressively that in knocked him off his feet and tore the skin of his cheek due to the rig the man wore. Sally screamed and he coward away from a second blow, his grandfather grabbed his uncle and shoved him away and his grandmother turned him over tsk’d and wiped the blood away with a linen cloth.

 "Really Timothy how are we supposed to hide an injury like this, did you have to hit him so hard?"

 After that night Aaron learned to lie and stay out of the way of the adults in his life.

   Over the years he forgot about his little encounter with the other side, he became a model student and pretty much spent his school years invisible to other students. Jon remained one of his only friends and any other he had were of relation to his family. He graduated early and was determined to begin university early but unfortunately most schools had reservations about admitting someone as young as him. It took teachers writing letters and a number of letters with a plea to Princeton to please admit him before he was free from the silhouette of his aunt and uncle. Sally had run away years before and couldn’t be found and he only got contact from her via secret message on tumblr. She was insistent that if Tim knew where she was or knew that they were in contact he would kill them or trap them so her contact was few and far between.

      His next encounter with the paranormal didn’t come until he was enrolled at Princeton; his roommate was a combination of filthy and hardly home. He was a self-described leader of the occult and was obsessed with the supernatural. he even owned what Aaron hoped beyond hope was not a real human skull, black lavender candles, and  a Ouija board that looked pretty old and probably bought used. One night when he came home from his later classes he found his roommate and his friends surrounded by lit lavender candles with the skull placed on the Ouija board while the morons asked increasingly demanding questions of it. A chill went up his spine and he flipped the switch snorting when the group screamed.

"What’s your deal man?" shrieked a girl with long blonde hair and doll like blue eyes. She practically backed him into a corner and looked like she kind of wanted to hit him.

"Let him go Martha he's just some kid who doesn’t believe."

Martha didn't immediately back off but after seeing how young he actually is from up-close backs away and dropped onto his roommates’ lap. He flipped them the bird and flopped face first onto his bed determined to ignore the bunch of assholes, until the lightbulb exploded and showered the shrieking teens with tiny shards of glass. Really for a bunch of people who claimed to be connoisseur of the occult it was hilarious to see how they actually reacted to a little bitty power surge. The room remained illuminated by the lavender candles and Aaron sighed and rolled over. He was so done with this stupid shit, he just wanted to go to bed but he couldn't do that with a bunch of squawking morons keeping the whole hall up.

   "Calm down you idiots, he snarled. It’s just a power surge the bulb blew. Sweep up the glass and get out, it can be fixed in the morning.”

He heard them murmur amongst themselves before the door opened then slammed closed and his roommate started cleaning up the glass and the mess his friends left behind. He sort of drifted in and out of sleep that night and felt extremely restless and tired. At some time around three in the morning there was a pounding on the door, he really didn't feel like getting out of bed to greet some rude asshole so he rolled over and tried the wake his roommate with the force of his glare but he wasn't there. Aaron sat up and stifled a gasp of fear. His roommate was not in bed and nobody was at the door, it was in fact his roommate pounding his head against the door so hard that it made it sound like some three am wake up call. as if sensing that he was being watched the other boy turned around a fixed Aaron with such a spine chilling glare that Aarons heart actually stopped then he snarled turned back to his bed and simply went back to sleep. Needless to say he didn't get any sleep that night.

   The weird three am pounding was not the last incident with that roommate, in fact his roommate continued to display bizarre behavior for a year and it was not just Aaron who he behaved in this way towards. He heard stories all over campus of him snapping at professors and his friends and as the behavior continued it became more and more bizarre. All of this came to head near the end of the semester he walked into their shared room and found his roommate bleeding out on the floor of their dorm. He had slashed his own wrists and was laying there giggling like a maniac; Aaron screamed and tried to help stop the bleeding. The thing he would always remember before the ambulance was not the attempts to bite at Aaron or the way the other boys eyes rolled back in his skull. It was the hellish cackling that turned into hellish wailing as he was hauled away.

     Aaron wouldn’t see that roommate gain for a year, that day he woke up from a nightmare in which the doll eyed girl Martha French-Beakman sat facing her boyfriend Patrick Lieman in a black room while Aaron was trapped on the other side of an inch thick sheet of glass that he could not break. Patrick loomed over him like a beast over a child and like a beast snapped her neck like it was nothing. Then he turned to face Aaron who was trying to cower behind the same glass and began to cackle that horrible hellish cackle. Aaron woke in a cold sweat, he needed to see Patrick and see that the boy could not get out of where they had him locked up. He got in contact with the Jackson Moore home for the mentally ill and made a visitation appointment for the day after tomorrow at three- thirty after he left his last class. The next morning as he left his last lesson of the day and made his way down the steps he ran into doll eyes Martha, he paused for a second and watched her with a pit growing in his gut. He and Martha were far from friends and were definitely not on talking terms either. The only time they'd ever interacted was a year ago when she got up in his face during that faithful Ouija session and he day they hauled her lover away. She came to sit near him during lunch a whispered "did you hear his horrible laughing?" he had never seen someone look so petrified. He didn’t like her but he certainly want to see her hurt.

      He pretty much dozed through his class and didn't answer as many questions as he would have. His mind was far too consumed with thoughts of Patrick and Martha who was quite possibly in danger of her own boyfriend. When he walked down those steps and saw her he practically lunged at her catching her around the arm. She jumped and glanced back at him startled.

"You scared me prodigy, do you need something?" she seemed skittish much like himself and he began to steer her away paranoid about who would hear their conversation. "This is weird, she muttered. You’re being weird."

 He cut her off before she could say anything else. "Are you planning on seeing Patrick any time soon?"

He was far too worried about her safety to be polite. She stared at him with her wide doll eyes and really she was very pretty and if h wasn't gay she would have made him very nervous. "Um, I guess why?"

"Don’t, he said urgently. If you go you will die."

Most human being would have seen that as some sort of threat but Martha was a little weird and she and Patrick had been doing something weird before he had lost his mind. "What’s he gonna do to me?" she whispered.

she was very freighted and really he would have liked very much liked to have said what he said and send her on her way but really he was far too scared for her. He took a deep breath. “If you go he will snap your neck and nobody will be able to stop him."

Martha looked at him for a long time and looked as though she might protest before looking into his eyes for a long time. She must have seen the fear or the truth and she nodded. "All right prodigy I’ll stay away."

.   The next day Aaron woke up at the ass crack of dawn and dressed himself smartly in a lavender button up and dark jeans, he'd rather show up dressed professionally because this would be far from a social call. The Jackson Moore home for the mentally ill in New York was a towering Arkham style building almost twelve hours away from Princeton in Rochester New York. He had to leave at five in the morning to get there at a respectable time and he'd have to stay somewhere over night or arrive home the next day at the same time he left for New York the morning before. the outside of the building was dark slate and lime and the gates were black painted rod iron fences and all wood structures were finished dark giving the place a sort of foreboding look. the knot in Aarons stomach grew tight as he looked into the lit windows of the property, this was one of the longest running and expensive institutions in the united states and Patrick’s parents could definitely afford to keep their son here discreetly just like some dirty rich kid secret.

   He steeled himself and marched up to the rod Iron Gate and waited for the guard to check his ID against the guest list inside his security box. The guard handed back his card and grimaced. "Have a good day Mr. Burr and watch Mr. Lieman’s teeth, he's been biting."

Then he waited while Aaron crossed to the other side before closing the gate behind him with a slam. The grey stone path was almost out of place with its rose lining and pretty pattern. It was one bright spot amongst the sort of dark backdrop. He walked the path with a nervous determination that turned to fear the closer he got to the building and stopped. His nightmare played over and over again, no matter how unlikely it was that that would come to pass he still began sweating and just as he thought that he should just turn and leave the guard posted at the door coughed and looked pointedly at the door. He’d been standing there for more than five minutes so he straightened his spine took and deep breath and marched up those steps, the door swung open and Dr. Mason Montgomery was waiting for him. The set up seemed kind of rehearsed and as much as he wanted to comment on it he was not there for those kinds of questions and just wanted to get the visit out of the way.

"Mr. Burr, Dr. Montgomery crowed far too jovial for the situation in Aarons opinion. It’s wonderful to see such a distinguished young man visiting out lovely facility."

Aaron honestly could not have given less of a fuck and was slightly perturbed by this doctors behavior, he'd built his college career on keeping his thoughts to himself though so he said nothing and instead shook that man’s hand. "It’s lovely to be here Dr. Montgomery."

He was lying it was not lovely to be there, this weird-o was acting like this was a social call instead of a visit to his roommate who was incarcerated inside.

      "Dr. Montgomery I’m very sorry to interrupt but I would really like to see Patrick now, please?"

The man coughed and straightened himself as if just remembering himself.

 "Of course Mr. Burr I’ll take you to see Mr. Lieman right away. He said. Just be warned we have a student here from a university doing a study on Patrick and he'll be just behind the two way glass, I’ll have to introduce you and get your permission to take down your conversation before you can enter."

Aaron nodded, it wasn't uncommon for psych students to be doing papers at places like this and he was completely fine being observed. Perhaps that would keep him protected while he was in the room with Patrick. "Of course."

he was a little surprised that William and Elaine Lieman would allow a paper to be written when they preferred to keep their sons condition private and he wondered what this student had said to get their permission, after Patrick freaked out they had sent him a lawyer trying to make him and Patrick’s friends sign a non-disclosure agreement to insure that he would never speak of it. He had refused to sign anything, and sent them a letter letting them know that he had no intention of ever saying anything about Patrick Lieman. Dr. Montgomery led him up two flights of stairs and down three or four hallways and up yet another set of stairs before leading Aaron to a set of doors just adjacent to each other. He pointed to the one on the left.

"This is the observation room, and then pointed to the other. And this is where you'll meet Patrick."

   Montgomery pushed open the observation room door and led him inside where a young man who was presumably the student sat with a pad of paper in hand and a pen tucked behind his ear. He was quite cute too with huge brown eyes behind black plastic frames and long brown hair tucked into a bun with what was left tucked behind his ears. He flailed when he saw them and lunged to shake Aarons hand very enthusiastically. He was smaller than Aaron, not by much but by enough that if Aaron stepped forward he could rest his chin atop the other boys head, cute.

"Mr. Burr I’m Alexander Hamilton and I’m a student of English and Parapsychology at Colombia. I tried to get into Princeton at first but they wouldn’t have me, it's fine I’m fine I got into Colombia no sweat and it’s not even a consolation prize, anyways even if I didn’t get-" the boy spoke about a mile a minute and to be honest if he kept it up Aaron was going to lose track of the conversation.

"Do you ever stop to breathe?" he hadn't meant to say it, it had just slipped out.

 The boy stopped babbling and smiled at him sheepishly. "I’m sorry I tend to talk a lot.

“It’s fine, Aaron said. I was just taken off guard that the Lieman’s would let somebody interview their son, they tried to hit me and his girlfriend with legal gag orders right after he was admitted here."

Alexander nodded. "well William and Elain didn't give me permission, in fact they threatened to have me deported if I pushed the subject but then they got into some sort of accident and Patricks’ sister Louisa took over his care and she wants to know as much about what’s going on with her brother as everybody else."

"Accident?"

"Didn’t you hear, alexander asked. A couple of months ago the Lieman’s were pulling into their neighborhood when William had some sort of stroke and flipped their car Elaine was killed instantly and William is living in assisted care due to damage from the stroke and the accident."

Aaron’s mouth dropped in horror, to be coming home from seeing your sick son to then only die was tragic but it was that ugly poisonous feeling in his gut that made him think that something else had gone on with that accident. Dr. Montgomery returned with a thin little smile that suggested terror and offered Aaron the Permission paper for alexanders study.

"Mr. Lieman is very excited to see you Mr. Burr.

    Patrick looked horrible, his long hair was fading from the artificial raven black to its natural pale blonde making it look greenish and filthy, his skin was greasy and pale and his lips were chapped and ripped and when Aaron entered the room he smiled reopening a split in the center. It terrified him due to its predatory nature and for the second time he thought that he should just turn around and leave.

"Hello Aaron, he cooed. It has just been so very long."

Aaron shuddered; the voice that the man in front of him spoke with was not the voice of Patrick Lieman. It was deep and guttural like Patrick had hit both a second and third puberty and decided to take up smoking twenty packs a day. Aaron licked his lips and his stomach rolled making him feel like he was gonna be sick.

"Hello Patrick, it has been a long time."

‘You can leave us now doctor Montgomery, Patrick sneered. I’m all bound up doc I can't hurt nobody." the doctor looked a little sick and went grey.

"Now Mr. Lieman you know I can't do that, we both know that if you wanted Mr. Burr would be in some very real danger."

Patrick went from grinning in that completely terrifying manner to snarling like a mad dog. "I don't want you here, he snarled. Get out, get out." each roar of get out was punctuated by the table lifting some feet off the ground before slamming back down.

The air in the room became hot and suffocating and Dr. Montgomery pressed a button on the wall as the heat continued to rise. Two orderlies ran into the room and grabbed Patrick holding him down, Aaron ran out of the room completely terrified. he didn't stop till he got to the foyer and doubled over gasping for breath, he could here that somebody had followed him and a trash bin was shoved up under his chin and he just let go gagging into the bin until that hot ball of fear slowly dissipated into a regular stomach ache, then he rested his head against the wall breathing heavily. Mr. Hamilton stood behind him with a tissue and water, he wiped Aaron’s mouth and handed him the water which he first used to rinse his mouth then he drank the whole thing.

"It’s ok, Alexander soothed. It’s always intense the first time."

"What do you mean, he gasped. What first time?"

Mr. Hamilton looked at him with his lips pursed a grave look in his eyes. "Mr. Burr I think you should follow me back to my hotel tonight."


	3. John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johns ghostly start

   John Laurens unlike Alexander or Aaron did not believe in ghost and monsters, not even as a small child. As the oldest son of conservative senator henry Laurens he was not allowed to engage in such childish behavior. His mother who was the kindest most beautiful woman he had ever had the pleasure of knowing would sometimes go behind henrys back and allow some simple indulgences with her baby with things like fairy tales and art. But mostly John was expected to behave like a grown man whenever they interacted. That was probably why his life turned out to be so far from the path that his father had wanted, because of the way he was treated in childhood. A gay artist with no degree living with friends and watching ghost adventures in his free time while working as a paranormal investigator himself.

   None of these things however meant that he had never seen or would never see a ghost, nor did it mean he had never experienced something that made him believe. When he was thirteen his grandfather had a heart attack on Christmas and later died right in their foyer. Moments he had been screaming at John’s mother about the dessert she had made and the next second he was on the ground clutching his chest and dying. John would never forget the next time he saw the angry old bastard. He had come home from school to a note from his mom.

_John,_

_Taking your father to have his heart checked_

_Will be back soon_

_The kids are being picked up by your grandmother_

_Love mom_

He shrugged there was nothing unusual about that so he went to make himself a snack of baby carrots and ranch dressing. As he came back and placed his snack on the table he snuck his art supplies from behind the china cabinet. his father thought that are was useless and unworthy and John was rarely allowed to indulge his passion outside of the mandatory hour at school, however his mom did keep some things hidden or him to play with, usually in his room since nobody was allowed to enter anyone else's room without permission. As long as he finished his chores and homework he could paint and draw locked away where his father couldn't see. He had gone to get a cup of water excited to be working out in the open when he heard more that saw the front screen door slam. He jumped and looked around frightened, but then sat convinced it was the wind and dipped his brush into the water. "What do you think you are doing?" he froze and started shaking he could hardly bring himself to look up. The voice belonged to a grandfather almost two weeks dead and John really did not want to look up to see a dead guy, if he looked then it became real. Slowly he put down his paint brush, turned is head, and looked up. His grandfather who in life had been intimidating to most adult and downright terrifying to most children was glaring at him from the sitting room entrance and he looked pissed. The spirit was fire red in rage with gritted teeth and balled fist.

 "What do you think you are doing?" he snarled advancing on John.

John yelped and scrambled off the couch. In his panic he knocked the water cup down spilling its contents across the carpet and table. "

Are you supposed to be doing that?" he roared running at John.

 John screamed and ran for it. He cleared the kitchen running own the back door throwing himself outside and slamming the door.

      He stayed in the backyard for what felt like hours before he heard the tell-tale sound of his grandmother’s car pulling into the drive. He started crying and ran out the back gate half tackling the old woman and blubbering into her blouse. he sibling- including baby Mary all looked very concerned and when his nanny went to go inside it took some coaxing to get him to go with her, once inside she looked under the bed and in the closet and upstairs but there was no sign of whatever had scared her grandson. After all of that she sighed and helped John clean up his mess and hide his supplies just in time because then Henry and Eleanor pulled into the driveway at that point. His grandmother gave him a gentle smile and took his hand; she figured that even if she couldn't coax whatever had spooked him out of him his mother might be able to. Eleanor and Henry were getting out of the car and Henry had a sour look on his face. Apparently his hearts condition was not where dis doctors wanted it. Eleanor upon seeing her eldest and mother in law both of whom looked quite distraught jogged up to meet them and took her boy into her arms, henry who was agitated from his poor exam glared.

 "What did I tell you about blubbering boy, he snapped. You’re thirteen quit behaving like a child."

"Henry Laurens. His grandmother yelled. Your son is clearly terrified, he was outside when I got here and he's been crying since I got home with the kids. Mabey instead of trying to make your children grow up so soon you should be asking just what upset him.”

His grandmother was good at putting people in their place, his father had never talked back to her and his grandfather was often cowed and made to stop yelling by her stern words. He would storm outside spitting and snarling instead but was unwilling to fight his wife. She turned her attention from her chastised son to her quivering grandson. "Tell us what happened Jacky."

John wiped his eyes on his mother’s sweater, something his father grumbled about, and told them exactly what had happen that afternoon leaving out the part with his art supplies. When he was done his father was visibly seething and his mother and father both looked extremely concerned.

"You telling tales boy?" he snarled his fists clenching.

 John burst into tears and clung to his mother.

"Henry, she yelled. Calm down you heard what the doctor said." then she turned to John. "Honey I know that you thought you saw-"

"I did see him, he whined. He was angry and he tried to get me."

Eleanor looked at her mother in law for help; she honestly didn't know what to say. His grandmother pulled him off of his mother and gentry pressed him to her breast.

"Now Jackie do you really think I didn't make sure your grandfather was really dead?

She said grandfather as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. It was no secret how his grandmother felt about her husband, they were an arranged match who had never quite fit together, they were meant to maximize each family’s wealth and continue a family line. Due to their old fashioned u bringing they had never divorced because they simply did not believe in divorce, but they did sleep in separate rooms and his grandmother had been strangely dry eyed during the wake and burial. He looked deep into his grandmother’s eyes and shook his head.

"I guess not." he sniffed.

He let his mother and grandmother lead him inside; he would see the ghost of his deceased grandfather a number of times after that but quickly learned to keep it to himself. If he spoke about it, it just scared his siblings and pissed off his father so he said nothing.

   The next time he experienced anything Majorly Paranormal and creepy was about three years later. He was living with his mother and his siblings in a condo in Virginia where they had moved after his mother’s very private divorce from his father. He was sixteen then and going to school regularly, seeing a therapist, and dodging condescending letters filled with borderline threats from his father. Technically he wasn't supposed to be within three hundred feet of his son or call him but his mother and father’s legal agreement never said that he could not send him letters; his mother burned most of them. After the incident with his grandfather’s ghost his father had become stricter and sterner with John, he took each and every fantasy book in his sons room and forced him to sit with the male company and discuss football and conservative politics instead of helping his mother and her friends clean up after dinner. And it wasn't just John who he behaved this way towards either, Johns brothers were expected to participate and Martha who was usually allowed to watch television upstairs was frog marched back down and forced to help in the kitchen, the only person safe was the baby.

    This behavior put a strain on Henry and Eleanor’s marriage, they fought most nights ad when they weren't fighting Eleanor was staging a quiet rebellion by letting her children do all the things Henry had banned, this included breaking into his office to get Johns books. Sometimes the fighting got so bad that Eleanor would actually pack their bags and tell Henry they would be staying with her sister, and then they would go stay in a motel to really throw him off the trail. The nail in the coffin came when he was almost fifteen. He came home from Baseball, the only sport he actually liked, to dinner already on the table and his family seated ready to eat. He dropped his things in the entrance and his mom went to get his plate from the microwave as he sat down. His father was read in the face with anger and he was cutting his streak so aggressively that he was rubbing the pattern off of it.

"How was work today papa?" asked Martha, the look on their mothers face told them they were in for it.

"My day would have been great Martha, he sneered. If it hadn't been for those fucking queers protesting for their right to work in front of my building." He emphasized _MY_ by stabbing his steak with his fork. "Isn’t it enough that city employees have the right to engage in such deviant behaviors?"

John could already feel himself getting upset, it wasn't like he didn't know his dads beliefs, or even like his dad knew he was gay but no child wanted to hear their parent talk about them or anyone else like them in such a way. Eleanor was looking at her husband with extreme disapproval, she knew her husband’s opinions due to his conservative politics however she did not want his beliefs to poison her children’s minds or coloring their opinions with his personal hateful rhetoric. His mother reached under the table and gripped his wrist giving it a reassuring squeeze. John had not officially come out to his mother but she had, had her suspicions for a long time and had recently caught him kissing one of the nice boys on his baseball team, so she knew. She held him and let him have a long cry and told him she loved him no matter what before they agreed that henry could never know. That was getting harder the more the man ranted however.

“I mean it's disgusting and the fact that they want people to look at it in public makes me think they should be strung up and beaten."

  _"Don’t tell him."_ the little voice in his head whispered.

"Marriage is between a man and a woman not between two freaks who like dick."

" _Don’t tell him."_

"It makes me sick that they think they should be allowed to play house like us normal people."

" _don’t-"_

"I'm gay."

everybody and everything froze, it was as if time itself had slowed to a stop and then before John could throw his hands up to protect himself his father’s hand had flown out and hit him across the face so hard his wedding ring cut Johns cheek and knocked him out of his seat. Eleanor had packed their shit the next morning and the divorce proceedings had begun. A lot of it involved his mother having to threaten his father with the destruction f his political career if he A) tried to even think about getting custody of any of the children. B) Tried to bet out of their prenuptial agreement, the condo was where the divorce ended. Despite what henry or his grease ball lawyer had though Eleanor did not need him, her happiness was not dependent on some guy her mother introduced her to when she was a teenager. And besides she was just as independently wealthy as her husband if not more, it was him who needed her.

   At this time John had only just bean to make friends in Virginia. People who were as if not more interested in what had happened to John that day in the Livingroom, amateur ghost hunters named May and Andrew. Every Sunday they got together to watch ghost adventures and paranormal investigation and all the shows on ID that John did not usually watch, but slowly began to suck him in. He really thought that they wanted to be his friends that is until Halloween came around. According to Andrew every Halloween he and May went out to various places in Virginia that were rumored to be haunted and this year they were inviting John. According to May this year they were going to the Elliot manor which was a four floor hotel and haunted house. He went right home and packed his bags and waited for Andrew beat up old VW bus to pull into his street. His mom had been teasing him all day, nothing [malicious](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malicious). It was mostly quips about how excited he was for his playdate; honestly she felt he was more excited about spending time with Andrew than the trip itself. At nine forty five Andrew pulled into the complex and John who had been watching for his friend grabbed his duffle and pressed a fleeting kiss to his mom’s cheek.

 "I’ll call you." he took the elevator to the lobby and met May as she was walking up to the entrance.

"Hi John boy, she said. Andrew’s in the car if you're ready to go?"

    Andrew was waiting for them on the curb leaning back against his bus with a cigarette dangling from his lip; honestly if Andrew wasn't dating May he might have made a move. May climbed into the passenger seat and he climbed into the back scrabbling a little bit and blushing when Andrew gave him a good push against his rear to keep him up. The thing about Andrews’s car beyond it being old as hell was that it was rusted and slippery where the metal was worn and it took forever to stark after he took the key out of the ignition. You couldn't talk about what a piece of shit the car was without Andrew losing his shit though. John personally hated the car and the whole trip to the Elliot manor was entirely too uncomfortable and entirely too hot due to the cars lack of air conditioner. The Elliot manor was Built in 1762 thirteen year before the American Revolution by a man by the name of Thomas Jack Elliot for his growing family. a family which consisted of his wife, three daughter between the ages of 8 and 6 months, and two sons including a boy over thirteen who was a staunch abolitionist later in life. Elizabeth Bryant Elliot was Thomas Elliott’s young wife who worked as a school teacher was the biological mother of both his youngest daughter and youngest son, they had married two years after the passing of Elliott’s first wife but she had become a strong mother figure for the children who did not belong to her. The land was still owned by the Elliot family who claimed that the property was haunted by five ghosts including Thomas himself but also his youngest daughter Emily. The first ghost was a farm hand who worked for the Elliot family, one night during a massive storm the young man was out tending to the horses when one of them was spooked kicking the boy in the head killing him instantly. He was most often seen tending to his duties or chatting amicably with guests who he often joined for dinner. The next ghost was John Clock an American soldier who was badly injured during the war and found himself of the property where the Elliot family did their best to save his life. Unfortunately this was all in vein and he passed away shortly after, he is most often seen wandering the halls looking for help. The third ghost was the youngest Elliot daughter Emily who was killed during Christmas when she was nineteen. Ellis Wythe the son of a family friend who had held a torch for the girl since before the war had followed the young woman out of the Party when she went to get some air where he sexually assaulted her and murdered her for a rock, her ghost has the most diverse spotting’s with her doing a different task with each guest she encounters and even taking on different attitudes towards them. Ellis is the fourth ghost who was killed in a duel against his victim’s older brother, his ghost most often relives his death on the spot where he was killed but has also been known to spook the younger female guests. Thomas Elliott is the final spirit; he died of old age surrounded by his surviving children and multitudes of grandchildren. His ghost can be seen observing the guests and sometimes celebrating while drinking a glass of his favorite whiskey. John was really excited to get t go on this adventure with his new friends.

   as they pulled up to the Elliot manor, which was beautiful in the light of the setting son, they were met by a man in jeans and a button up and a girl dressed in period typical attire who popped the vw's trunk and grabbed their bags. The girl who had her black hair pulled up in a classic up do style knocked on the driver’s side window and motioned for Andrew to roll it down.

"Hello my name is Emily and I am the night manager. as part of my position it is my job to inform you that one of the ghost has become extremely aggressive and an outside party had been brought in to deal with the situation, should you decide to leave your refund will be given readily and should you stay you will receive you meals on the house, and one free dessert voucher."

 Andrew gave her a charming grin and waved her off. "Thanks for the warning Emily but I think my party is gonna stay and take the free meals."

The woman "Emily" gave them a tight smile and reached into her apron pocket where she produced a book of paper slips and handed each of them a stack of green ones then handed them each one pink one that had an illustration of a cake o it. "Enjoy your stay."

He and May climbed out of the car while Andrew pulled the car around to park. John sat down on the porch while may followed Emily inside to check into their room. While he waited he observed two figures walking up the path and his hear picked up. Perhaps this would be his first ghostly encounter where he wouldn't be running scared. As the figures grew closer however he became disappointed, the couple were just regular people, the man was tall dressed in faded jeans and a university hoody, his head was shaved and his ears were pierced and he had the thickest eyebrows John had ever seen, he walked with his whole attention on the woman with him. She was also very modern in a jewel toned sweater dress and grey sweater leggings, her hair was long and curly and fell over her shoulder and whatever the man had said to her made her giggle like a little bell. He thought to ask them if they'd seen any of the ghosts but was distracted from the couple by Andrew barreling up the drive and tackling him, when he managed to wrestle away the couple had disappeared.

   "You ready, Andrew asked. May is probably already up in the room."

John Yawned and haved himself out of the porch chair, and followed his friend. In the hour following him and entering the hotel he would come to regret ever befriending the odd pair. Their room was on the top floor of the hotel so he and Andrew took the elevator, Halfway up however the other boy began to snicker and it was so out of the blue that he couldn't help but be concerned.

"What’s so funny, man?" he asked placing a hand on his friends back.

"It’s nothing John don't worry about It." he said exiting the elevator and began to walk very quickly towards their room forcing John to jog to keep up with his friend’s long strides.

 Their room was the last one at the end of the second hallway and used to belong to the youngest Elliot girl and was supposedly a hub of ghostly activity, to John it looked like a regular bedroom with a wood door with peeling while paint that had a number plate nailed to it. Neither he nor Andrew had the room key so Andrew knocked first three times then two then three again in some sort of pattern.

"Took you guys’ long enough." May chided leading them inside.

The room was beautiful with one big queen size bed and a long couch with a pretty brocade pattern. he didn't get to experience it for very long because Andrew and May grabbed him suddenly from behind and threw him into the open closet slamming it closed before he could escape and jamming something under the knob so that he couldn't turn the knob.

"What the fuck, he screamed. Let me out."

he slammed his whole body against the door hoping to force it open. He could hear May and Andrew laughing from the other side.

"Don’t worry john boy, may cackled. Someone will be around to let you out in the morning."

 then he heard them grab their things, heard may remind Andrew to grab Johns things and the heard them rush out of the room slamming it closed behind them. He screamed and pounded his fists against his tight space of a prison.

   He would later learn after the events of the night that he was not the first person who Andrew and May had done this to. Every year they would find some poor unfortunate soul to befriend, integrate. Then they would invite them on some trip far from home and rob them blind, leaving them stranded in whatever setting they had picked for their play. they never got in trouble not only because their families were comparatively wealthier than their victims, but also their victims were either too scared of what the two robbers would do to them or too embarrassed by what had been done to them to speak up. John would be the first to go up against them and be the first to win making it safe for other victims to come forward with their own past Halloween horrors. It helped that the lawyer Eleanor hired tore the two tens flimsy robbery excuse to shreds.

   He was locked in the closet for just over an hour and the entire time he had not stopped yelling for help or trying to bust his way out. Finally he heard clamoring happening from outside the room door and heard the door bursting open sounding like it might have smashed against the wall. This encouraged him to screamed louder and bang against it that much harder.

"Help me, he screamed. I’m trapped in the closet."

He heard the voice of a man and two women, then he heard something fly across the room and the closet door was ripped open exposing him to the sallow yellow light from the hall. The night manager, the man with the thick eyebrows and his curly haired partner were all standing in front of him looking very relieved to see that he was unharmed.

     "Are you ok honey?" the curly haired woman asked him as the man and Emily the night manager helped him sit down.

He coughed harshly and gladly took the water from the man who kneeled down so that they were at eye level with each other.

"He’s ok, the man said running his hands up and down his shoulders. You’re ok right son? we’re sorry you weren't here sooner but there's almost nobody else on this floor, thankfully the woman in the room below yours is pretty paranoid and kept making complaints to the front desk about the ghost upstairs screaming for help, we knew there was a problem when your little friends came out of the dining room hooting and hollering and making out like they won the lottery. The manager knew something was seriously wrong when they threw all of your things onto the lawn."

he started crying then. He knew his friends had locked him in a closet but to hear that they’d abandoned him and destroyed his property on top of that was way too much. The night manager reached into her pocket and ripped out another pink slip of paper dropping it on his lap.

 "Get yourself a second free dessert."

He wanted to yell at her that he didn't need a dessert that he needed a way to get home but he was crying too hard to get the words out and she left to return to her post. The man haved a huge sigh and shared a look with the woman. "

Do you have a ride home?" he shook his head.

"Do you have a name?" this time it was the woman who asked.

"John Laurens." he whispered.

he was still upset not only by the betrayal of people who were meant to be his friends but also because he now had to go outside in the dark and gather what was left of his shit before it could be completely destroyed.

"My name, the man began. Is George Washington and this is my wife Martha. We are paranormal investigators operating in Virginia, now that we are all acquainted why don't you join me and my wife for dinner?"

"We’ll help you gather your things." said Martha.

   He did join them for dinner and he could barely contain himself the entire time they were eating, he had to hold onto the muddy strap of his bag to distract himself. By the time their dinner came around he could no longer contain himself.

"Have you guys ever like consulted on any cold cases?"

George looked up from his ice cream from which he had a spot on his nose and shared an amused look with his wife. “Personally we never have but we do know some people who have dealt with them, our friend Friedrich von Steuben and his team worked the JonBenét Ramsey case a few years ago, though I don't think they got anything significant. Miss Ramsey is a young spirit who died traumatically they very rarely remember their deaths and what they do remember is riddled with huge gaps.”

 John squeaked happily around a mouthful of cake. Just because he had spent some time locked in a closet didn't mean there weren't enjoyable parts of his night. Martha stifled a snort of laughter. “You remind me of our kid, she said. They’re always just as excited as you are to hear about our adventures and the adventures of our friends."

 "Honestly I think they'd get along fine with young John here." George told Martha licking his spoon.

John checked his watch and sighed in disappointment. " I really wanna ask some more questions but if I’m gonna call my mom to come get me I have to do it now."

He stuffed a few more bites of cake in his mouth. George and Martha looked at him and then looked at each other, and then Martha put a gentle motherly hand over his.

"If you wanna ask some more questions George and I would be more than happy to give you a ride home."

John looked at both of them then looked down at his muddy bag and grinned. "So have you guys ever been thrown while dealing with spirits?"

   John continued to ask questions well into past the time he usually fell asleep, when he started yawning so hard that his jaw would pop Martha finally sent him off to bed. When he woke up in the morning he was disappointed to have not experienced anything overtly paranormal, he took a long shower and brushed his teeth before putting on his least muddy outfit which consisted of some jeans that had a boot mark on them and the hoodie from the night before. When he trudged down to the lobby finally he found Martha sitting in a paisley pattern wing back and George was just coming through the door covered in sweat and mud. Martha motioned to john to take the chair next to hers and when he flopped down she handed him a cup of warm coffee. The two of them sat in amicable silence while George went to get cleaned up.

"So, he asked finally. Did you and George find out what had agitated the one ghost on the property?"

Martha sighed in a way that told him that something annoying had happened and rested her head in her hands. “some moron found Elliot Wythe’s unearthed jaw bone and decided that it'd be a good idea to bring it into the house, George put it back this morning though so everything should go back to normal."

"dummies." he muttered and they returned to their quiet companionship.

 John observed the lobby area; with the few guests occupying the area it almost seemed like the Washington’s and himself were the only people there. The image was ruined when the morning manager came in dressed in a modern three piece suite which directly contradicted the outfit of Emily the night manager.

         George came back down dressed in a white V-neck and jeans with holes in them and clasped the two of them on the shoulders. "Are you guys ready to go?"

Martha put her and John’s coffees down on the coasters and grabbed her luggage while John hauled his bag up over his shoulder following the adults out of the house. As he walked down the porch steps he spotted the night manager Emily sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the porch, he caught her eye and smiled waving good bye, Emily gave him a smaller smile in returned and sent him a wink before she faded out of existence like she had never been there to begin with. He choked stumbled forward and grabbed Martha spluttering as he frantically pointed towards the porch. Martha looked at where he was pointing and laughed gently nudging her husband who looked back at the two of them. "I think John just met one of the houses residents." she said.

 George gave her a knowing look and then looked at john. "Let me guess, the night manager?"

   John sat in shocked silence almost the whole ride back. The night manager was a ghost, a ghost was the night manager and George and Martha had known the entire night. He managed to snap out of it just as they turned into his block of apartments. "How did you know she was a ghost?"

 Martha turned to look at him with that gentle look. "John she was the only employee dressed of the times and you could see through her some of the time."

This sent John straight back to spluttering and it made George and Martha actually crack up. When George pulled into park John grabbed his things and hopped out of the truck, the then made a motion so that George would roll down the window and leaned in. "Are you guys looking for an intern or something?"

George leaned over his wife and popped the glove compartment pulling out a little white card with black printing on it and handed it to him. "If you still wanna work with us when you graduate give us a call and we'll be happy to have you but for now stay in school."

then Martha leaned over her husband and kissed John on the cheek and they were gone peeling out of the complex and disappearing. He really couldn't wait to graduate.


	4. John

   John pretty much called the Washington’s the day after he graduated, he sat on his bed with the phone clasped nervously in his hand and his sister perched on his lap so he could pull gently at her springy little curls. He bounced up and down as his phone rang and rang and for a moment he feared that when they answered it will have turned out to have been a scam or worse they will have completely forgotten about him and would laugh at him and hang up. Of course this was nonsense because as soon as Martha answered the phone and John started talking Martha let out a happy yell and started calling for her husband. He was invited to come out ASAP by a happy clappy Martha Washington. Within the month he was living on their estate and working on their team which consisted of their live in assistant Hercules mulligan who was two years older than John and had never finished high school, and their nonbinary adopted child Lafayette who was a year and a half younger than John who'd graduated high school early. Their given name was apparently a mile long and actually included a title which was why they went by their sir name.

   Currently John and Lafayette were going over some old case files and alphabetizing them, they'd volunteered for this task due to 90% wanting to read old files due to boredom and 10% because it actually had to be done. The files were not kept private but unless you wrote them or you were the people organizing the files you almost never got to read these files. Working for the Washington’s was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Often the members of the team were doing research, fielding emails and phone calls, archiving and scanning documents, and determining whether cases were real or fraudulent. Laf was currently holding a file labeled fraudulent while John was holding a file that was dated, labeled as a true case, and had red tape on it that said urgent. John did what he felt was right and smacked his friend with the file. This wasn't the only file printed like this but it was the only file in the pile currently stacked between the two of them. Lafayette grinned and snatched the file from John practically tearing it open.

**Primary subject name: James Hamilton Jr**

**Age: 16**

**DOB: 1991**

**Status: possessed/exorcised**

Under that was printed a second person, status, and subject

**Secondary subject: Alexander Hamilton**

**Age: 11**

**DOB: January 11 1997**

**Status: human attachment**

Under James name was a short summery of how James had become possessed, his behavior during the possession, and his supernatural and violent fixation on his younger brother. Under that was a folded letter taped into the file detailing the behaviors of James after his possession from a woman named Rachel Faucette? They were so caught up in the file that they screamed like little girls when somebody behind them cleared their throat. "You kids know you're supposed to be alphabetizing these file, correct?"

Even after working for the general for almost six years he was still somehow surprised by how sneaky the man could be. "For the love of all that is holy G-Wash could you maybe warn a guy, I’m not tryin to die at twenty four.” Lafayette was raining weak ass blows on their father and yelling at him in French, honestly they were unfucking amused as always.

"what are you boys reading that you're paying so little attention, huh?" he asked lifting the file they were so invested in. he looked at the date on the file then looked at the names in the file and heaved a sad little sigh. "Oh yes this case, I remember this case."

"Why the long noes pere, Lafayette asked. You won the case it says so in the file."

John really wanted to correct his friend but he also wanted to know why George was so upset and he was afraid that if he even breathed then they would not get an answer.

 "Yes you’re tight Lafayette I did save these boys, he said. And as far as I know they are still living. But their mother was a very dear friend to me and she passed not to long after this, and so I always get a little sad when I think about this case." he put a sticker on the file and placed it in the filing cabinet. "I’ll leave you kids to your work." then he went off to do his own duties.

 John and Laf shared a look, there was just something so odd about what had transpired.

   They didn't talk about it at dinner but George was incredibly quiet while he slurped his soup and Martha kept sharing looks with them over her bowl. George polished off his chicken and rice and pushed back from the table "I’ll be in my study tonight, I think we might be looking at a genuine case and I don't want to be disturbed." then he left leaving the dining room door swinging on its hinges.

Hercules looked at Martha and Martha looked at Lafayette and Lafayette looked at John and John looked at Hercules and they all looked at each other. "What did you do?" Hercules demanded.

 John looked at Laf and Laf looked at John then they both looked at Martha" "how dare you-" "I have never-" they spluttered. "I can't believe that you would accuse us of-"

"Can it Lafayette, said Martha. What did you and John do to upset George?"

John suddenly felt like shit. He wasn't actually sure what he'd done to upset George so much but he felt bad about whatever it was. He knew the circumstances had something to do, at least a little with the file this afternoon and maybe he was just that upset over his friend’s death. Some things were hard to get over and they took time and maybe they had ripped open an old wound. "He got upset while Laf and I were filing this afternoon, he came in to see us reading instead of working but he wasn't upset about it. He really didn't seem upset till he saw the file we were reading, he said that case was one he worked for an old friend and that she died shortly after and then he left in a hurry."

Martha looked like she had her answer and she sent them a sad smile. She said. "I think I know what file you kids are talking about."

   "I should have known, she sighed. Only the Hamilton file could leave him this upset."

John wanted to know exactly what about the Hamilton file was so upsetting and by the looks on Hercules and layettes faces they also wanted to know. "Rachel Faucette was a woman who George almost ran away with a little over 21 or 22 years ago."

 Laf made a sound of shock and honestly they sounded more hurt than their mother looked. "But you and papa were engaged 22 years ago."

“ yes, she sighed. Very freshly engaged in a high society marriage arranged by our parents. I was twenty four and freshly widowed with two small children and my parents were eager to marry me off as they couldn't stand the shame of having a daughter who was a single mother. George was only twenty one and fresh out of the military and also completely uninterested in marriage and we honestly hated each other. So when his older brother fell ill and needed somebody to take care of him George jumped at the chance to run away. not only was it an opportunity to spend time with his much beloved brother who nobody knew how much time had left on the planet but also an opportunity to get as far away from the woman who was about to destroy his life. From my understanding Rachel was three or four years into her second unhappy marriage and had somewhat of an unsavory reputation where she was from as a whore and she walked with her head down. She was far from wealthy but she had a little boy and she often worked far from home as a house keeper, which was how she met-"

"Wait, interrupted Hercules. Not only was George engaged to another woman but he was gonna run away with a woman who had a kid and was married to somebody else?"

 "Do you boys want to hear this story or not?"

"Yes, John yelped. We want the story please, we want to know."

"All right then. so George was in Barbados taking care of his brother who was very sick, Lawrence was dying so George took on a lot of the house responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning. but between all of that and spending time with his brother an making sure he was always with company the house keeping started to fall to the wayside, the nurse who took care of his brothers medical responsibilities suggested hiring a care taker for those final months." "And they hired this Rachel woman?" asked Hercules. "Yes they hired Rachel, but not a first at first they hired-"

   The dining room door slammed back open and George came back in doing his best to look excited. "We have a case so I suggest that we all get an early night if we wanna be nice and rested for the long morning ahead of us." then he left again.

Martha stared after him with her big sad eyes and stood up from the table. “I’ll tell you the rest of the story later, ok?" then she went after George.

"That was intense, said Herc as he stood up and began clearing the bowls. I can't believe that G-Wash almost took off with some chick."

“I know we might not have ever met each other and even worse there might not be a Laf." John wailed throwing himself over his friend.

The French person squealed as John dug his fingers into their ribs and wiggled them. They stood up so John went rolling off their lap onto the floor with a bang. "Connard, they shouted. I am adopted I would just not be a Washington and we should stop talking now because this is making me sad."

"Aww look at Laffy all annoyed by a little tickling." Hercules cooed pinching their cheeks.

Laf growled and swatted his hands away turning his back to them, their cheeks were red and they looked genuinely annoyed. Lafayette hated being tickled and babied, while it annoyed him when John teased and they were quick to remind him there was only a little more than a year between them. When Hercules did Laf was painfully reminded that Hercules was five years older than them and thought of them as a child and not the romantic interest they so desperately wished the older man saw them as. They flipped their friends the two finger salute and stormed off.

 John whistled. "Damn, do you think they're pissed because of Martha's story or do you think they're pissed off at us?"

"Well they flipped us off so I’m gonna go with that, said Herc. Don’t worry I’ll go after them." then he followed the French person out of the room leaving John staring at the clean up like a moron.

   "Idiot, he grumbled to himself. How could you let Hercules go after Laf and leave you with the dishes."

he scrubbed the yellow broth stain out of the last glass bowl and put it in the drying rack. He wasn't going to put them away; he would leave that honor to Hercules and Lafayette. Whoever he found first. He wiped his hands on the dish towel and threw it over the towel rack before storming out of the kitchen. He normally wouldn't be so annoyed by some dinner dishes except for the fact that nobody had washed their own breakfast or lunch dishes which tripled his load. He stormed up the stairs his feet purposely pounding the hard wood in his anger letting anybody in his path know just how angry he actually was. Laf and Herc would either be in their rooms or in the library. First he checked Herc’s room then he checked Lafayette’s and neither of them were in there so they had to be in the library. By the time he actually got to the library most of his anger had drained and instead of stomping about he had pushed it back to more of a shuffle; he pushed the door open and nearly immediately regretted it.

   Lafayette was mostly naked with their legs wrapped around mulligans waist while the two of them kissed and ground together. He was so shocked that he wound up making a sound like a blender with rocks in it and threw one of his shoes at the entwined couple.

"This is a library, he yelled. It’s a public part of the house you monsters."

the kissing pair sprung apart as if burned. Lafayette was desperately trying to put their shirt back on while mulligan helped them button their skirt; they both had a look on their faces like they were beach goldfish.

"Holy fuck John we are so sorry. This isn't...we weren't-" Herc spluttered rolling off of the couch.

"Don’t say this isn't what I think it is, John warned. You’ll end up hurting yourself and you'll wind up hurting Laf."

The French person had finally gotten themselves to rights and came to give him a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Laurens for protecting my feelings. I ask that you don’t say anything to mama and papa though, I would like to keep this relationship between me and Mulligan for a time."

"Of course you guys, he said. I would never say or do anything you didn't want me to. You guys are my friends" Hercules was overcome with such emotion that John found himself crushed in a painful group hug.

   Martha found the three of them cuddled together on the library couch later that night where they were watching some movie half asleep. "Kids, she whispered. You should be getting to bed. We have at least a seven hour drive tomorrow."

Laf jolted up in shock nocking John of their chest and further off the couch with a thump. "Seven hours, they yelled. Will there at least be snacks?"

Martha rolled her eyes but had this horribly fond expression on her face. "Yes Lafayette there will be snacks."

they dramatically put their hand over their heart. "Good, that’s good."

Martha made them get up and ushered them to their respective rooms and even made sure to make sure they were tucked in before she retired herself. Left alone in the dark John was hit by a curiosity about the end of Martha’s story. What had made Rachel Faucette worth running away for and further why didn't they run away together?

   He really should have listened to Martha and gotten some sleep because the five a.m. wakeup call the next morning literally made him feel like dying. He swatted at the hands shaking him but instead of stopping their assault, the hands wedged themselves under his body and tipped him out of bed. He made an embarrassingly girlish squeal as he impacted with the floor back first and groaned. Standing over him snickering like a child was not Hercules like he expected but was in fact his boss George Washington.

"I’m glad my pain causes you joy George." he whined reaching for a hand up.

"Don’t be such a baby John." George hoisted him to his feet with ease and led him into the sitting room where Laf and Herc were sitting on the couch half asleep with coffees clutched in their hands. And Washington being the kind man he was shoved John to sit next to them and handed him the full coffee from the table. "Wimps."


	5. Alexander

   Alexander grinned and ran his hands over his friend’s shorn head and smooth cheeks; he rarely was able to do such in Aarons waking hours. Ever since meeting the other boy at the mental health facility they had formed both a partnership in the business of hunting ghosts and a friendship...somewhat...kind of. he often felt like his friend was closing himself off or holding part of himself back in his interactions, and while he had shared the whole of himself from his tragic past to his hopeful future, Aaron had only shared the bare bones of his past. Aaron never shared his hopes and dreams for his future and often played his cards close to his chest, but that made him all the more interesting and made Alexander all the more determined to figure him out and bring him out of his shell. Unfortunately during his time with Aaron he had fallen into an infatuation with the other boy and he was so beyond sure that his friend did not feel the same, even when Alexander could sometimes swear the more stoic boy was flirting with him.

   Don’t get him wrong of course; he knew that even though the more closed off boy did not care for him romantically, that did not mean he wasn't cared for as a friend. He was constantly chided to get more sleep, eat more, and to lay off the caffeine drinks. He was also the businesses main fraud filter. Through some internet sleuthing he made sure their "clients” were not scammer, or robbers hoping to pull a fast one. He had taken this job after hearing the story of the time Alexander had gone to a supposedly haunted location to do an evaluation and was rendered unconscious via brick to the skull, robbed of his money, material belongings, and most of his clothing, and dumped into a dumpster off some ally in broad daylight. after hearing the story Aaron had come as close to exploding as a finicky Burr could, yelling at him for his blatant stupidity and demanding to know if he had even though to tell somebody he trusted where he was going before he went charging off into danger. It was nice, it had been a long time since somebody had cared enough about him to give him a dressing down and call him an idiot.

   Aaron started to stir and Alexander pulled his hand back before he could wake the man. As much as he scolded Alexander for not sleeping more Aaron himself was a notorious night owl who lost sleep in doing his own part in their job, or spending the night making sure that if alexander was going to stay up all night that he always had a coffee on hand. He grabbed the purple knit afghan off the back of the couch and laid it over his sleeping friend. As he did this his cell phone pinged with a message alert. A client had supposedly just messaged him, and while Aaron usually fielded these messages he was sleeping and Alexander would not be the one to wake him. There was a time before Aaron when he would have been reckless and just taken a job without thought but that was pre-Burr Alexander that would wake up from being knocked out and put in a dumpster and walk back to his apartment without even thinking about a concussion. Now he had somebody in his life who cared, now he went through a whole process. first he read he messages that Aaron was not able to read, then he evaluated weather it sounded like a realistic haunting, third he ran a background check on the family or person making the claim and check the relevancy of their social media and gathered research from that, finally he ran it past Aaron and if his partner thought it was good then they would set up a meeting in person or over skype depending on distance and schedule compatibility.

   He gently eased his legs out from beneath his friend careful not to wake him and slid off the couch in stealth mode where he then grabbed the cell off the coffee table. The text suggested that the messenger was from the area, and that they attended the same college alexander had or knew somebody who knew about him and had probably gone to school with him. Anyone else would have pulled the landline number or email from their website. That was another thing Aaron had insisted on, he could not just give out his personal phone number to every tom, dick, and Larry who passed him on the street. Not only did it open him up to harassment but cell phones were super easy to track and some sicko might just decide that alexander was the perfect person to complete a human skin suit. Sometimes he thought that Aaron was a little too cautious, he had an ancient cellphone, and older than dirt laptop that he never connected to public Wi-Fi, and little to no social media that was kept private with his friends list heavily vetted. It made alexanders heart hurt just thinking about the sheer amount of effort it would take to live like Aaron did. But that was why Aaron was Aaron and he was Alex. He checked the message hoping to god it wasn't some assmunch who thought he was offering sex or some freak who thought they could steel his skin. The text started like a letter.

     _To whom it may concern,_

_Hello double A investigations formally the Hamilhaunt my name is angelica Schuyler the daughter of Senator Philip Schuyler. While we have never formally been acquainted Mr. Burr and I have met in passing years ago and it was through a mutual acquaintance that I came to know about your business. My family moved out of temporary accommodations into our newly renovated stone mansion in Albany, and while the house is lovely, the sinister goings on since we moved back in are far from great. My siblings and I have previously noticed some strange goings on but they were far from malevolent and the occurrences were few and far between. Now that the home had been renovated however the occurrences are occurring at frighteningly increased intervals and have a sinister feeling to them. starting from the night we moved in the doorbell would ring every night at midnight on the dot and at first we believed it to be mischievous young neighbor but six nights ago my brother caught a shadowed silhouette fleeing from the door far faster than any human and further he described this entity as having no distinguishable human features or legs. the second occurrence began on just our third day in the house, at breakfast that morning my youngest sister a very sweet girl only four years old woke screaming before any member of the family could rouse her and she was convinced that there was a girl with no eyes living in our attic, being adults the oldest members of the family brushed this off as a childish nightmare brought on by living in a new space, that is until my third sister Margarita was woken in the night by what sounded like footstep coming from just above her bed at first she was convinced that our sister had just scared her with her nightmare, that is until the whispering started. If these things are not enough to convince you that somethings happening in my home then you can contact me for further information. Enclosed at the bottom of this message is a means of contacting me personally and my monetary offer. Please consider my case seriously, as I fear for my family and only wish for their safety._

_Angelica Schuyler_

      He read the message and then read it again. of course he knew the Schuyler, he had gone to school with Angelica despite the fact that they had never met or been acquainted or shared a class he had heard about her in passing, and as stated in the letter her father was a state senator and her mother was the wealthiest woman in New York making her family the wealthiest family in New York. He must have made some demonic or horse like sound because Aaron shot up so fast and grabbed the remote brandishing it like a weapon. "What’s wrong, what’s going on, did you set the toaster on fire?"

Alexander made an offended noise, Aaron wasn't supposed to mention the toaster incident and now here he was completely betraying their pact. "You blow up one toaster and it’s suddenly the end of the world, nobody ever lets you live it down. And I did not murder another toaster, he grumbled. We just got a new job...probably." Aaron stretched exposing a sliver of abdomen that made Alexander immediately lose his train of thought.

"Did you vet them?" Aaron asked scratching the back of his neck and heaved himself off of the couch.

"Um no I haven't yet, he said. But they did text my personal cell phone and they said they knew you at least in passing. They claimed they were Angelica Schuyler?" 

Aaron practically vaulted over the coffee table face planting on the ugly carpet in his mad scramble to get a look at alexanders phone. Scrabbling to his feet he lunged at Alex snatching the phone from his hands.

"It could be a scam." he muttered scanning the text.

"I know Aaron but we shouldn’t completely write it off, he whispered. look at what she’s offering." he watched with bated breath as his friend scrolled to the bottom of the message and smiled a little as the other boys knees went weak at the sight of the paycheck offer.

   "Te-ten- ten thousand Dollars." He gasped.

Honestly Alex thought his friend was going to pass out. He stood behind him studying him with his hands just in case. "That’s just for the evaluation Aaron, she’s offering more if we actually take the job."

Aaron’s mouth dropped and he started doing his best impression of a beached goldfish. "That’s like so many groceries." He whispered.

Alexander actually busted into laughter, it was just such a very Aaron thing to say that he could honestly say he was not expecting it. "Dude it’s more than like a bunch of groceries that’s like rent for more than eight months, that’s like our utilities for year. Dude we could start putting towards a better place."

He and Aaron locked eyes and they both looked at the phone. "I’m going to call her." Said Aaron.

"And I’m gonna go do some research on the house."

   Alex practically sprinted to his room to grab his laptop. His feet slid on the wood and he pin wheeled comically flailing his arms to stay balanced. He could hear Aaron in the other room great whoever was on the line and scramble to the door. Ask for the house address. Then he scrambled back to his terribly made bed. It’s 100 Curtow place, Albany, NY 12203! Alexander’s breath left his fucking lungs, a nearly 200 year old stone castle that cost so much money he got sweaty and nervous just thinking about it. It made sense that it was haunted considering that it was nearly 200 years old and anything that Might have been remodeled was sure to piss off any occupants that might’ve been residing there and just on the other side of the veil. It would definitely disturb someone’s Eternal slumber.

   According to the website he was currently on the estate had every right to be haunted. First during the time it was built three men were killed, one by falling in landing headfirst and two others from unlisted on-the-job injuries. Then 10 years after the house was built somebody broken and killed every female member of the family in the house staff spearing only the family’s youngest daughter who had hid in the attic. Suspicion fell on the only person old enough to commit a crime the family’s patriarch but he supposedly was away on business when the crime took place. The hose seemed to be cursed throughout the century and tragedy followed family to the point where they even had to have a grave plot built that housed their dead until the family finally surrendered the property in the 1940s due to financial troubles. The house remained vacant until the early 70s when a group of college age girls were killed during a prank gone wrong. The girls were dared by some upperclassman to go inside and spend the night, however the upperclassman we’re planning on scaring the girls so that they would lose the dare. Things wound up going horribly wrong when the fire broke out on the ground floor. To this day the police believe the fire set intentionally. After that nobody lived there until Phillip Schuyler senator of New York purchased it to house his growing family.

   The hauntings seemed pretty legit, especially considering all the bad shit that went down between then and the present day. Aaron practically charged into the room his socks slipping on the splintering wood sending him pin wheeling in the same manner That Alexander had. He had the brightest smile ever seen on his face and he was waving the phone around.

"It’s legit, we have a job."

 "Wait, Alexander squawked. Did you even run a background check, what if this is fraud and it’s not actually a Schuyler?"

"I never thought I’d see the day you were the cautious one, he scoffed. I didn’t need to dig in to it miss Schuyler was able to provide proof of identity both verbally and with physical ID which she sent via text message."

Aaron held out the cell phone to show Alex and image that had a state driver’s license laid out next to a birth certificate and two items of mail. The second image was a selfie taken outside the science lab where she stood next to a poster from his original business with a guy Alex vaguely remembered from one of his classes.

“Well then I guess we have a job, did she send you a time she wants us out there or a time she’d be most comfortable with us coming out?”

 “Um yeah, she wants us to come out ASAP. I think we should start packing tonight, and then leave tomorrow in the late afternoon and arrive at night. We can set up and start interviewing the rest of the family that way.”

   They split up to gather their own things. Aaron left to go grab them dinner and Alex went to do their laundry in the apartment basement, he took the elevator down to the ground floor and greeted the grumpy front desk employee with a short wave. The basement was old and dank and had three washers but only two of them actually ran and one was always being used and that was often left unattended. The boiler hissed and clanked and he nearly flew out of his skin. He didn’t mean to be so jumpy but the basement always creeped him out, despite the one washer left unattended the apartment Guidelines did ask that you watch your wash or risk forfeiting your laundry spot. Aaron somehow could stomach the basement and would stay down there for the whole 40 minute wash cycle and the whole 50 minute dry cycle. Alex couldn’t do it. He would set a timer on his phone for 20 minutes and go upstairs to chat with David the young door person for their building then when the 20 minutes were up he would check the laundry and then he would replicate that process until their laundry was finished. Sometimes David would come with him and wait it out with him, which made the basement feel a lot less creepy.

   He was chatting amicably when David when Aaron walked through the door with his arms full of Chinese takeout. He looked at Alex then looked at the basement door and rolled his eyes. "For God sake Alex it’s just the basement we’ve already concluded that nothing is down there."

Alex scoffed. "No you decided there was nothing down there, I still think that something is going to jump out and peel the skin from my face if I’m down there for too long." 

Aaron sighed and went to grab some plates and forks and brought them down so they could eat in the lobby occasionally offering food to David who actually couldn’t eat on the job and sadly had to decline. Then they went down together and gathered their laundry, and finally went upstairs collecting their equipment and newly cleaned clothing that they then hauled out to Alexander’s beat up car that was so old it shared Aaron’s birthday with him. After that they took turns showering and putting the movie overboard on before settling in for the night.

   This was the usual ritual for their jobs, they would clean up and pack the night before then settle in for the night usually with a good movie but sometimes it was a video game or a book. Alexander would then begin “dozing off” halfway through the movie like clockwork and would rest his head on Aaron’s lap eventually slipping off into sleep while Aaron absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair. After the movie ended Aaron would stop petting him and nudge him awake and make him go to sleep in his bed so that he wouldn’t hurt his back, then he would set an alarm, climb into his bed and go to sleep with the assurance that the coffee maker was pre-set and he wouldn’t have to stress for the next day. Alexander for now relaxed into the petting and slowly he began to fall asleep just like always and just like always he woke up to Aaron nudging him awake as the credits to overboard played. He crawled off the couch shuffling off to bed where he flopped down face first and passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the address is fake but is based on a real address


	6. Authors note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry

Hey guys, so here’s the deal with a deal.

I just learned that I am strapped for cash and recently found out I have an outstanding balance making it impossible for me to start my next semester for school, So I will be taking requests for money. I’ve linked my PayPal at the top of my page.

One-shot       

$5.00 per 500-600 words

$10.00 per 1000-1500 words

$15.00 per 2000+ words

_I will never charge more than 15.00 for a one-shot_

Chapter fics

5.00 Per chapter

_Ex. 10 chapters = $25.00_

**I’m also looking for an editor, I will pay you half of whatever I make on a one shot and half of the commission of each chapter or if you would rather make a deal I will do any and all history assignments for you even if they are history assignments for non-history classes, alternatively I will offer free stories.**

**_Ships I will write_ **

_hamlaf_

Jamilton

Whamilton

lams

_elams_

_whamlaf_

_madilton_

_Jamilmads_

_Burrcules_

_Hamburr_

_Burrens_

_Hercules/John/Lafayette/Alexander_

_Hercules/John/Lafayette/Alexander/Aaron/Thomas/James_

_Hercules/John/Lafayette/Alexander/Aaron_

_The whole poly shebang or everyone/everyone or as many people as you list_

_Hercules/John/Lafayette/Alexander/Thomas/James_

_Hercules/John/Lafayette/Alexander/Eliza/Aaron_

_Eliza/Alexander/Thomas_

_Mulliham_

_Laurette_

_Mullette_

_Herc/Lafayette/John_

_Burrfayette_

_Marliza_

_Theoburr_

_Pegria_

_Angelria_

_Thomgelica_

_Philorges_

_Philadosia_

_pheaker_

_lamsburr_

  ** _Ships I will write_**

Lotodge

lotura

shance

sheith

klance

shklance

pance

shunk

shatt

shallura

allurance

hance

heith

kallura

kidge

lancelot

latte

alluridge

shatt

shynk

shidge

klunk

sheithidge

**_Ships I will write_ **

stucky

stony

cherik

thorkistarks

science bros

thundeIrron

frostIron

winterIron

Ironhusbands

winterfalcon

Ironfalcon

captainfalcon

Ironpanther

Ironstrange

Starkquill

stuckony

clintasha

Irondad

Superfamily

**_Fandoms i will write, all ships or most ships just make a request_ **

_my hero acadamia_

_hetalia_

_free_

_haikyuu_

_attack on titan_

_blue exorcist_

_naruto_

_one piece- **I Won’t write for Doflamingo**_

_kuroko no basket_

_yuri on ice_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is Anbu1997  
> you can find the donate button at the top just please help me pay for school


End file.
